Insulators – The Telegraph Pole Appreciation Society

27 Nov 2025

Pole Graveyard and…

posted in: Broken Poles, fabled poles, Insulators, Railway poles, Telegraph Poles, Vintage |

The last of the calendars

What is it about telegraph poles and Scotland? Many of the finest extant poles can be found north of the border. And some of our most ardent telegraph pole appreciators are also from up there. Recent member William Brown sent in the photo below of a pole graveyard at Keith railway station yard. The picture, I must add, was taken by fellow new member, Mike Cooper. Official secrets and all that precludes me from telling you their membership numbers. But they are adjacent.

Apart from Keith being the name of my dad, it is a town that sounds like it should be in Aberdeenshire but is actually in Moray and is the geographical location where the A95 meets the A96. It’s also got a football team, a St. Rufus church and a Tooty’s Takeaway. And this pole graveyard of course. I’ve google street-viewed myself hoarse but haven’t been able to spot them. Seeing these expired five armers in rigor mortis I find deeply disturbing. I shouldn’t be looking at this picture so close to bedtime. And I’ve just had cheese.

Every cloud, as they say. Now that I’ve given the location away I can imagine busloads of insulator collectors turning up at some station somewhere asking to be taken to Keith and the conductor saying “He’s not working today.”

While I’m on, just 20 calendars left now. I’m supposed to be moving house so they have to go. Pic below of June by way of temptation.

A pile of dead telegraph poles. They are mostly poles with five arms and insulators.

A mockup of the June 2026 calendar page showing a pole between two mountains behind a large metal road bridge at Ballachulish.

10 Dec 2023

POTM & The Christmas Rush

posted in: Country poles, Foreign ones, Found Poles, Gorgeousness, Insulators, Pole of the Month |

Apologies if you’ve been waiting on an order from us. They are all now in the post but there was this tiddly little pole we wanted to take a look at you see. Only it was in Ireland. This required a four hour drive up to Holyhead, an overnight, then the 9am ferry to Dublin, then another six hour drive back up to the top left hand corner to find it. We didn’t tell anyone we were going as we tend to leave the key under the mat and last time, Auntie Brenda came in a tidied the place up. Now we can’t find a thing.

This must qualify as the cutest pole in, well, anywhere really. It’s short single arm with its solitary clipped off insulator serves to highlight the road-to-nowhere feel about the place. It’s the sort of pole you might find in a Flann O’Brien novel*¹. The sky being the lighter of the two shades that this part of the world normally provides. This is just off the R238 at Leckemy on the back road to Moville near the quarry. I’m going to call it my Pole of the Month.

Another pole of interest is one that I once sailed past on Lough Swilly, just above Fahan (pronounced Farn) marina. Talk about past glories – this pole is no longer connected to anything, not even the house beyond the hedge. But it does shout to me “contender for calendar 2025”. One more photo is a fine run of power poles intersected by a rainbow near Inch island which happened to be on somebody’s special birthday and it kept on bloody raining!

And finally, the reason for the Christmas rush might also be my last chance to plug our wonderful 2024 Telegraph Pole Appreciation Society calendars. Here is mighty June. Can’t wait. Get yours <here>.

*¹ The Third Policeman. Possibly the finest novel written. Ever.

The Telegraph Pole Appreciation Society 2024 calendar, showing June, with a very complex looking pole head arrangement.

7 Sep 2023

A Nude Linesman in Oz

posted in: Adornments, Country poles, Foreign ones, Found Poles, Hardware, History, Insulators, Oddities, Photos, Telegraph Poles, Vintage |

I can’t believe how long it’s taken me to get this post up on to the website. Jerry Deacon, who sent this to me, can’t believe how long it’s taken either. And Jerry, I’ve just realised is none other than (previously plugged on here) Kilgraney Sleepers (now railwaysleepers.com) – the place to go for old railway sleepers (the clue is in the name) but also old and new telegraph poles for ornamental and nerdic use. Nice plug for you there Jerry; I trust that this is adequate recompense for my tardiness.

Anyway, back in March. Jerry wrote to tell us that as an intrepid explorer he came across Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station (1884) near Shark Bay in Western Australia. There is a definite passion for telegraph poles in Oz. In October 1872 the Overland Telegraph line between Darwin and Adelaide was completed, and the Australian telegraph network became linked directly to Europe (termite attacks notwithstanding). Hamelin station was established as a repeater station that linked Western Australia into this same network. And this is the last of these stations still extant. Now, for some reason, it features, quite prominently, a nude linesman attending to the pole top apparatus. Why this should be is anyone’s guess and Jerry offers no explanation, nor does anything at the station itself. Though he did suggest Nude Pole of the Month as a possible new feature for these very pages. I’m going to pretend he never said that.

A placard at Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station describing it's history.

Exterior view of Hamelin Telegraph Station, showing weather checking apparatus.

15 Jul 2023

Moochin’ about in Mullingar

posted in: Appreciating, Country poles, Foreign ones, Found Poles, Insulators, Photos, Railway poles, Vintage |

Messing about in Ireland again! Well I only live a modest distance from the ferry at Fishguard, so it’d be churlish not to. A splendid overnight in James Joyce’s former watering hole, the very fine Greville Arms Hotel, in the midlands town of Mullingar in Co. Westmeath. Mullingar won’t ever win any tidy town awards but it had an old Irish charm all of its own. And the railway station had a further delight for us in the overlooked, disused and too-close-to-everything-to-chop-down ancient telegraph pole you see below. And a station on a bend is worth two in the bush or something.

People who like telegraph poles often like old railways too and vice-versa. I’m no different. So next day we found ourselves at Castletown (5 miles SE) walking ye olde rail trail that once ran between Mullingar and Athlone (you remember Athlone don’t you?) Our meeting, along said trail, with an elderly Irish gentleman whose wonderful accent and false teeth that rattled as he talked is a story for another time, perhaps over a pint of something black and nourishing. Anyway, this trail still has lengths of track in places and is a haven for wildlife. In fact, Ireland is fully fifty years behind our UK depletion of nature. I hope they learn from our mistakes. The final photo in the sequence is a delightful croc-face replete with insulators and insulating coat of ivy. This was on the way home in Co. WIcklow. Without further ado.

Platform and disused pole at Mullingar station, Ireland

18 Mar 2023

Half-armed in Co. Wexford

posted in: Country poles, Foreign ones, Found Poles, Insulators, Photos, Telegraph Poles |

Not having advertised our trimestral trip to the land of Emeralds (and Six Nations grand slammers) meant that we returned home to an unburgled house this week. Which was nice. The key was under the mat where we left it and granny was still in her annex watching re-runs of The Exorcist and chewing upon the remains of the toffees we left for her in the automatic cat feeder; timed to release two Werthers Originals per hour. Lovely. Now to wade our way through the pile of TV licence reminders received in our absence.

Our homeward journey started in the top left hand corner, specifically, Inishowen, Co. Donegal and we travelled almost exclusively by ‘B’ roads*¹ all the way to the bottom right hand corner and our rendezvous with the good ship Stena Europe at Rosslare. That ageing tub couldn’t handle the swell and high winds in the Irish sea on the Monday, so we had an extra day to meander even more. Our route took us down the west coast past Sligeach, almost to Galway then meandered hither and thither seeking out interesting potholes and pubs with the most sidelines*².

“Get to the telegraph poles man!”

Day #2 found us, in the drizzle still, on the R680 between Clonmel and the rather Frenchie sounding Carrick on Suir. This is the mother of all “B” roads. Potholes aplenty, and then these half-armed beauties hidden among the roadside foliage. The first one was the best, but I couldn’t stop as it was a narrow road and I had a car up my arse*³. These are genuine half-arms, not rotted off or stolen, the real thing. Rather than sort through them*⁴, here, enjoy the lot.

*¹ They’re called “R” roads over there.
*² Saw one premises that advertised: Pub (naturally), Petrol, Coal, Newspapers, hairdresser, hardware)
*³ Can I say this on this website? Turns out I can. (arse /ɑːs/ noun: (i) buttocks (ii) stupid person (iii) verb, tailgating, driving too close behind, being an /ɑːs/)
*⁴ It’s late, Match of the Day will be on the telly in a minute.

20 Feb 2022

Eunice, Serendipity & people named Jim

posted in: Broken Poles, Country poles, Insulators |

As I write, storm Franklin is thrashing around outside trying to outdo it’s older siblings Dudley and Eunice. The latter came through here two days ago showing 969 millibars (hectopascals) and scared the life out of me and the ridge tiles of my house. Said storm proceeded to wrestle to the ground a 250 year old lime tree in the field across the lane. That this tree has significance to us is beyond the remit of this post/page/website. The tree also fell onto a rusting dutch barn flattening what was left from a storm 3 years ago into a mangle of corrugated rust and retired and rotted telegraph poles.

Curiosity took me out there to inspect the damage. The tree was rotten mostly through and clearly wan’t long for this world anyway, wind or no wind. I was just about to retrieve a branch or two for the home hearth when I spotted a fully intact insulator lying on the top of the grass as though it had been left there just minutes before for me to find. Then I found two more, slightly more concealed. Much excited rationalising led me to conclude that they were somehow wedged into the tree as a byproduct when the poles were used to make the now planate barn. Serendipity* that Eunice should have lead me to them.

I thought of the title of this post way before I started writing anything. I felt sure that if I just kept writing I could think of some connection between someone called Jim and the happenstance of me finding some old insulators. Like you now, I realise this far into the post that it’s just not going to happen. I can’t think of any association. At all. Try as I might. But I’ve written the heading now and I’m not the sort of person to go back and change it. So cheers, to the Jims of this world. And to one in particular 😉 May you be Lucky Jim.

* not for the lime tree.

A fallen lime tree showing huge fracture to trunk and rotted interior. Rusted dutch barn just beyond.

As I found the standard white insulator almost on the surface of the field.

26 Oct 2019

Telegraphular Garden Art

posted in: Art, Found Poles, Gorgeousness, Insulators, Restoration Project |

When I first founded the world's foremost Telegraph Pole Appreciation Society way back in 1956 - though it might have been closer to 8 o'clock, it's so long ago now - I thought I was alone in my strange, primeval feelings towards telegraph poles. And when I broadcast to the world my efforts at restoring an old pole-head and crossarms little did I know that it would spark inspiration in deepest Somerset.

Professor of Telegraphpoleology at the Faculty for insulators, crossarms and dropwires at Frome University, Jake Rideout, is well known to us here at TPAS Towers. He has, of late, been submitting progress reports on his garden ornamentation made entirely from scrap telegraph pole parts.

His was a real struggle of out-of-shape diagonal braces, weeping Keruing crossarm timbers, defective "J" brackets and the general sourcing of spares for such an increasingly rare object. Of the crossarm jewels, Jake tells us:

"Insulator wise, I have decided to keep it basic and use a variety of more common GPO patterns like you would expect to see on your average pole. The top arm has 3 No.8 Cordeaux and a No.2 Queens Cordeaux on the left (The outer two brown ones are both Denby made, the left hand white one a newer Denby with the blue GPO ink stamp on the dome and the right white is a Bullers made). The double J bracket on the left side has a LEA composite No.8 and unmarked No.2 Queens. The bottom arm has four No.16 dryspots (The two on the left have taller fuse caps) which are a mix of Wade and Bullers made, with double groove variants on the left and single groove on the right."

Anyway, below you can see a small gallery of Jake's progress from entropy to negentropy* - a collection of bits to a single completed telegraph pole enthusiast's joy. Jake wondered if he had provided too much information regarding the insulators. There's no such thing as too much information when it comes to this kind of thing.

* You'll need to look that one up.

10 Apr 2019

Treasure Trove in ‘Ull

posted in: Broken Poles, Country poles, Found Poles, Insulators, Railway poles, Vintage |

Regulars to these pages will, by now, know that Aaron Bailey (who has dropped the H from Hull*) is a regular rummager along deceased and non-deceased railway lines for telegraphular artefacts. Indeed, he has a Pole of the Month (May 2018) to his credit. There follows the photos from his latest jaunt - one in which his particular interest was poles that are attached to the side of railway bridges,

The round pole is on the side of a Hull and Barnsley railway bridge. He confesses to taking this photo from the queue at a drive through McDonalds (for goodness' sake)

The square pole is on the side of a viaduct on the Settle and Carlisle Railway whereupon he also found some insulators incl the LMS fatty you see here.

I really do envy urban dwellers this access to railway heritage. I live so far from civilization that even the roads have petered out long before they get here. Denizens of these rural depths have been known to cross themselves whenever they see an aeroplane pass overhead and gasp excitedly when someone switches on one of these new electric light things. Still, we keep being reminded that the 19th century is just around the corner.

*^{Must be a dialect thing}

31 Mar 2015

Sawn-off short poles

posted in: Insulators |

Following some stern, repetitive and vociferous advice from Mrs TPAS, I have moved my insulator collection out from under her damn feet. I decided not to put them where the sun don’t shine as was her suggestion. Instead, I now have them on the walls of my shed and of course a select few upon my garden pole out of reach of aforementioned fish-wife.

Anyway, I’m not alone in this pursuit – insulator collecting that is. John Paine (#0512) sent us a picture of his telegraph pole (left, below). “Garden ornament thing” he describes it. And he is worried that his collection is going to soon be covered by his good lady wife’s clematis. A taller pole may be in order there John and some accidental weedkiller spillage onto the clematis if I may make so bold.

Regular correspondent to these pages John Cranston (#0620) wrote in to tell us that he’s found the hash key – the one that does the # thing on his computer. It’s Alt + 3 on a Mac apparently. Thanks for that John. My life, whilst still not quite complete with that fascinating information is now a little closer towards that ideal.

Anyway, he went on to make a sexist assumption that the abbreviated poles you see on the right belong to “some bloke” as he put it. “They enliven an otherwise suicide-inducing crawl through bleakest, flattest Lincolnshire” he told us. The sawn-off poles are in the front garden of a house along the A17 about a mile east of the River Welland. One is a GPO, complete with plastic pigeon, and the other looks like it came from a railway, he reckons.

This photo submission he tells us is his effort to counter balance this society’s Cambrian bias.

Thank you Johns.

The head of a telegraph pole complete with insulators in a flower garden An insulator collectors telegraph pole with sign and plastic pigeon

19 Feb 2015

Calling all insulator collectors

posted in: Insulators |

Now here’s a subject close to my heart – tricuspid valves. No, not those… Telegraph poles, that’s it. I’m always getting those two things mixed up.
Heritage railway telegraph poles them’s what I meant.
Stuart Duddy from Isle of Wight Steam Railway has written to us relating their project to reinstate the telegraph pole route alongside five miles of their standard gauge line between Wootton and Smallbrook Junction.
You can see their early progress via this link.
Now, erecting “proper” telegraph poles is a noble enough cause as it is. But they’re running into a bit of a problem – sourcing 780 Cordeau pin insulators – 130 poles x 2 arms (4 wires top & 2 on bottom) = more insulators than they can get their hands on. Stuart tells us that although insulators are technically unnecessary as they won’t be running open wires, the installation just wouldn’t look right without them. Quite right too.

Mantec Technical Ceramics, who acquired Bullers, are unable to help as their focus is now on high voltage insulators, and so a source for new insulators would otherwise have to be in India or China. So that’s where we come in.

Many of the people that frequent this site are avid collectors and appreciators of fine porcelain lumps called insulators. Do you have a decent sized stash in your garage, bedroom or mantlepiece that you could help IW Steam Railway out? You may not have quite so many as they’re looking for, but a few smaller stashes = one big stash = problem sorted.

Here’s what Stuart tells me they’re looking for.

A telegraph pole ceramic insulator with double grooves

As you can see it has a double groove, but whether they have one or two grooves is probably not too important. It is approximately 98 mm tall x 63 mm diameter at the base. Inside, of course, is the threaded hole which receives the fixing bolt.
I am aware that the glazed porcelain insulators came in various colours including rusty brown and red. We also have a few in a very dark grey, matt finish. Ideally, however, we would like to adopt a uniform colour and go with the glazed white/cream finish.

So, think Blue Peter appeal, and if you think you can help in some way do get in touch with us here at Britain’s premier telegraph pole appreciating society, or email IW Railway direct.

Finally, here is an update on their Project Telegraph Pole.